The state government’s solar panel rebate scheme has blown out by at least $46 million, after a cap imposed on the program in response to its popularity was breached.
The feed-in tariff scheme was introduced in 2009, and offered new households who fed solar-produced power back into the grid a rebate of 40 cents per kilowatt hour.
More than 76,000 households signed up to the scheme, but its popularity prompted the Barnett Government to impose a cap of 150MW earlier this year and to halve the rate to 20 cents.
The scheme was originally estimated to cost $28.2 million, before being revised to $114 million.
But yesterday’s mid-year budget forecasts revealed the estimate had blown out to $180 million, after too many applications were processed and the cap was breached by 15MW.
Synergy will pay $20 million of the overrun, while the state government will pay $46 million.
Treasurer Christian Porter has ordered an audit into the scheme, which will analyse all the applications received between May 21, when the cap was announced, and June 30, when it was imposed.
Mr Porter said the audit would find out if any applications were incorrectly approved, which could see the cost blowout reduced.
“The suspicion that we have in Treasury is that there are applications that said they met the requirements, but didn’t,” he said.
“Or alternatively, the Office of Energy or Synergy made an error.”
“There’s been a cost overrun, there clearly has been… but the money is not wasted, the money has been spent delivering clean electricity and incentivising the product of photovoltaics.
“There weren’t appropriate procedures put in place to know which bundle of applications, or which single application, represented the breaching of the cap.”
Shadow Energy Minister Kate Doust said the feed-in tariff scheme had been completely mismanaged.
“This scheme has been poorly regulated with poor safety records and now there have been huge cost blowouts – it has been one stuff up after another from this minister,” she said.
“With an extra $46 million needed over the next three years for this scheme, the (Energy Minister Peter Collier’s) mismanagement and hands-off approach will ultimately cost our state for a decade.”
But Mr Porter said the overrun was closer to $14 million, as the initial forecast from the Office of Energy was inaccurate and the government had always been prepared to pay $165.3 million for the project.
